It takes a long time for the sunflower blossoms to shine in all their glory. Unfortunately, the annual sunflowers are not hardy and can only be sown outdoors from the end of April. By moving in front of you, you shorten the waiting time.

Sunflowers can be grown indoors for earlier flowering

Sow sunflowers indoors

  • Prepare the seed tray
  • Sow sunflower seeds
  • Cover with soil
  • Set up warm and bright

From the beginning of March, fill a seed tray with normal garden soil. If you have enough space on the windowsill, you can also sow the sunflowers in small pots. Then you don't need to prick out the plants later.

Always sow three to five seeds in a planting hole. Sunflowers germinate very irregularly and a plant does not grow from every seed.

The cores should be placed about two centimeters deep in the substrate and covered with soil.

Caring for sunflowers indoors

Place the nursery tray or small pots in a spot that is nice and warm and bright.

Keep the soil well moist, but make sure that the water does not stagnate. This would rot the cores.

It only takes a few days for the first seeds to germinate and for the little plants to begin to grow.

prick out sunflowers

As soon as the seedlings have developed at least two leaves, pinch off all but one of the plants in each seed hole. Only the strongest stand.

When growing in the seed tray, you need to prick out the sunflowers and transplant them into small pots.

Only repot sunflowers grown in the pot if the pot is too small and the roots are sticking out at the bottom.

From the end of May the sunflowers are allowed to move

Sunflowers that have been brought forward should only be planted outdoors when it is warm enough outside and there is a good chance that there will be no more night frosts. This is usually the case at the end of May after the Ice Saints.

If it's already very warm outside beforehand and you don't want to wait any longer to plant out, be sure to watch the weather.

If night frosts are announced, protect the small sunflowers with a protective cover at night. You can get protective hoods in the garden store. You can also easily make them yourself from cardboard or foil.

Do not plant sunflowers too closely

Be careful not to plant the early sunflowers too densely. A maximum of four plants should grow on one square meter of soil.

When caring for sunflowers in pots or tubs, always place only one plant in the container.

Otherwise, the sunflowers will compete for nutrients and remain small and stunted.

tips and tricks

If you feed sunflower seeds to birds in winter, it is quite common for some seeds to fall to the ground. If the winter is not too cold, some sunflower seeds will germinate by themselves in the spring.

Category:

Vegetable garden